The Rules Change

I found a great quote in the latest issue of Wired:

 

“It turns out the rule ‘large and disciplined organizations win’ needs to have a qualification appended: ‘at games that change slowly.’ No one knew til change reached a sufficient speed.” – Paul Graham

 

Conformity Is Optional

The problem with most powerpoint presentations is that they follow the templates that are forced on all too many organizations. Those templates, by and large, are awful. The result is dense, unreadable collections of charts that fail to communicate effectively.

The good news is that conformity with these templates is optional. 

I promise, if you give a clear, engaging presentation that actually communicates with the audience, nobody will chop your head off for not following the template. 

Check out Presentation Zen (blog or book), or download my Charts Are Cheap presentation for more details on how to do it better.

Restraint

I created a little presentation titled Restraint and posted it at Slideshare. It explores the relationship between constraints and creativity, as well as the impact of restraint on operational effectiveness.

Download the file to see the talking points, which are in the Notes view. I'd love to hear what you think, and as always, please feel free to pass it along.

Restraint

View more OpenOffice presentations from Dan Ward.

The Comparative Testing Office

You know who does this technology development thing well? The Comparative Testing Office, which is a small office within the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. 

Col Richard Burns, the CTO director, recently wrote an article for Defense AT&L that describes what the CTO does. And what do they do? They deliver effective new technologies to warfighters in less time and with less money (i.e. less bureaucracy) than traditional efforts. 

Specifically, we’re talking between a 7-to-1 and a 9-to-1 cost avoidance. Fielding timelines are between 5 and 7 years faster.

We therefore award the CTO office the coveted Rogue Project Leader Gold Medal for Awesomeness.

Symbolism

It bugs me when the F-22 Raptor is used as the symbol of American airpower. 

I think it’s a terrible symbol, and let me tell you why.

John Young, the USD(AT&L), says the thing hasn’t met the majority of its Key Performance Parameters (KPP’s = Very Important Requirements). The developer, Lockheed Martin, denies that assertion, but I'm inclined to believe the customer over the contractor.

It has a 62% mission availability rate and, despite the fact that we’re fighting two wars right now, it hasn’t flown a single combat mission (nobody denies that). The Secretary of Defense said it has no role in the war on terror.

It is something like 6 years behind schedule, and was supposed to cost $6.5B. So far, we've spent $65B. Yes, that's an increase of a factor of 10. In fact, it cost so much that we weren’t able to buy enough of them to really matter (the most conservative assessment says we need somewhere close to 300. We've got 100). 

I guess since we can’t use the F-22 in the current counterinsurgency wars, we decided to use it on posters and logos instead. Surely we can find a better symbol of American airpower. Like, say, a UAV...

Logo comments?

We're still playing around with the layout, format & overall look of the new RPL blog.

I thought I'd see how the old RPL logo would look on this blog.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Volunteers to create an RPL blog skin?

AT&L Survey

Greetings Rogue Nation!

Do you ever feel like ripping a page out of a magazine and writing all over it, then stuffing it into a mailbox without even putting a stamp on it?

Yeah, me too. All the time.

If you're like me, you'll be very excited to hear that you have an opportunity to do just that! Everyone's favorite defense technology magazine is running a short survey in the May/June 2009 issue. You can rip it right out (it's on page 13) and mail it in - no postage necessary! I can't wait!

Oh, and feel free to mention how much you enjoy your favorite author(s) in the "Are there any other comments you'd like to provide?" section.   

(You're not on the Defense AT&L subscription list? Well, you can download a copy and mail it in your own self - still no postage necessary!).